I will first remark, Jason, that my company does not engage in the practices described in this thread.  They appear to be the act of "fee splitting" where one company is receiving partial fees for services not performed by the company.  This is specifically prohibited by RESPA

In Illinois, there are a number of class action lawsuits pertaining to overcharging for recording fees, courier fees, etc.  The title companies are paying.  Not all allegations are necessarily RESPA related, but also charges of fraud, undo enrichment and whatever else the plaintiff attorneys can come up with.  If you are doing business in Illinois, charge for work not performed at your peril.

There are some instances, however, where some of the fees may be warranted.  The title search and title exam are charged for, whether or not they are listed on the HUD as a separate line item.  If they are not, then they are rolled into the title premium or the closing fee with other overhead costs.

A lender may actually request that you separate the fees because certain fees (i.e. the closing fee) affect the APR and the lender wishes to keep the APR low.  Thus the title company lowers the APR affecting closing fee by the same amount of the new title exam or title search fee.

So, I think that you need to look at the whole picture before drawing conclusions on some of the charges that you see.  The overall price may be the same but there is actually more disclosure in the hypothetical I described above.

However, the examples from Jason and Shannon appear to me to be straight forward RESPA violations.  As to the legality aside from RESPA, I prefer to wait for comment by Mr. Ahern or other attorneys who are inclined to donate their time and legal knowledge.  My disclaimer is below.

This posting was prepared by a person who is not an attorney and who does not intend for this posting to be construed in any way as legal advice or the practice of law.  Any person or entity who misconstrues this posting as legal advice or unauthorized practice of law should ignore the entire post.

The above disclaimer was prepared by a person who is not an attorney, does not play one on TV, and is not related to one.  The entire disclaimer should be ignored, along with its preceding post/message, by everyone.

The above disclaimer is not meant in any way to make light of the legal profession or to injure any feelings.  It was prepared by a regular person, who wishes no harm to any who visit this forum, in a lighthearted spirit.  Please disregard this entire mess.

To echo some previous posts, God Bless Our Troops!  Have a great Memorial Day weekend!